826 Description of the Siah-poshis. [ApriL, 



just met several Kaffirs in Cabdl, who had been captured at an advanc- 

 ed age, and were still familiar with the language and manners of their 

 countrymen. I have also of late seen people both Hindu and Muham- 

 madan, who had visited the habitations of the Kaffirs and have thus had 

 the opportunity presented of hearing what these people thought of them- 

 selves and how they were viewed by foreigners. The account of the 

 Kaffirs, given by Mr. Elphinstone, renders it unnecessary to repeat 

 the many details which will be found in his work ; my object being to 

 improve our present knowledge and clear up, if possible, some of the 

 existing obscurity. 



In speaking of their nation, the Kaffirs designate themselves as the 

 Muhammadans do i Kaffirs' with which they do not couple any opprobrious 

 meaning though it implies infidel. They consider themselves descended 

 of one KoMKSHAi,and their Muhammadan neighbours, either corrupt the 

 word or, assign them a lineage from Koreish, one of the noblest of the 

 tribes of Arabia, to the language of whicji country they further state 

 that of the Kaffirs to be allied. They have no distinction of black and 

 white Kaffirs that I could hear of ; and one of the Kaffir informants 

 assured me that his tribe looked upon all as brothers, who wore ringlets 

 and drank wine ! They have however no definite idea of the surround- 

 ing countries, Bajour and Kuner to the south being the limits of their 

 geographical knowledge. They have no books, nor is reading or writ- 

 ing known in the nation, so that they have no recorded traditions* 

 Their country has many table-lands some of which extend for fifteen or 

 twenty miles, and on these there are always villages ; Wygul and 

 Camdesh are on one of these plateaus, and eastward of the latter lies the 

 country of the Muhammadans. The winter is severe, but in summer 

 grapes ripen in great abundance. 



The words of a young Kaffir, about eighteen years of age now in 

 Cabiil, will afibrd the best explanation of many of their customs. His 

 name as a Kaffir was Deeabur, as a Muhammadan it has been changed 

 to Fureedoom. He fell into the hands of the Muhammadans eighteen 

 months since, by losing his road when passing from his native village 

 of Wygul to Gimeer, to visit a relative. He is a remarkably handsome 

 young man, tall with regular Grecian features, blue eyes and fair com- 

 plexion, and is now a slave of the Ameer. Two other Kaffir boys, eight 



where, no opportunity has been yet presented of hearing how a European observer 

 would regard that singular race. As there is much curiosity, both on the continent 

 and in our own country, about the Kaffirs, and we are naturally looked to for in- 

 formation regarding them, I have transmitted this paper to Government that his 

 Lordship the Governor General may be pleased to dispose of it as he deems proper.'* 



